UPDATED! Support Hawaii Women to Represent at the 8th IWNAM meeting, Puerto Rico

Please help our organizations send Elise, Eri and Terri to be Hawai‘i's delegation to attend the 8th International Women's Network Against Militarism (IWNAM) meeting entitled “Encuentro/Nets for Genuine Security.” This meeting will take place in Puerto Rico between February 19-24, 2012. We are participating because we believe that genuine security in Hawai‘i is about ending Hawai‘i's dependence on the war economy. We believe that genuine security lies in our communities creating sustainable, community-based alternatives that cultivate, instead of exploit, people and resources. Identifying, implementing, and advancing these local alternatives also needs a collaborative international effort. Our work seeks to raise awareness on the systemic issue of militarism that cuts across cultures and lands, and to build international solidarity that connects our struggles.

This past year our organizations collaborated on the Passionista Fashion Show: Undressing Globalization and Militarism, which was a part of Moana Nui 2011:Pacific Peoples, Lands and Economies, an alternative conference to APEC. On September 11, 2011, we organized a solidarity action to support Jeju Island communities’ resistance to the development of military facilities that would house Aegis missile systems, which are interconnected to the missile facilities at Barking Sands on Kaua‘i. Also, after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, WVWS wrote a statement of solidarity with the IWNAM to demand that the U.S. and Japanese governments shift the spending of taxpayer monies from the upkeep of U.S. military facilities in Japan and other territories to helping victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation poisoning. We also demanded the creation of employment opportunities that transcend militarism.

Please help us raise money to pay for air fares for these Hawai‘i women to serve as delegates to the next IWNAM meeting, and to represent Hawai‘i in this effort for international solidarity. During this conference, attendees will have the opportunity to network with women from the Pacific, US, Caribbean and Asia. In addition, we will visit and talk to the community of Vieques, an island whose struggle to stop military weapons testing parallels Hawai‘i’s Kaho‘olawe.

Following the return from the conference, delegates will hold a public presentation to share lessons learned at the conference and help facilitate our organizations to strategize and create a mission and vision for genuine security in Hawai‘i. To learn more about the 8th International Women’s Network Against Militarism meeting, visit http://www.genuinesecurity.org/projects/meeting.html.

To donate:

By Cash: Hand-deliver to Eri (808)542-0348

By Check: Make checks out to "Collective for Equality Justice and Empowerment" and mail to Eri Oura 3161 Ala Ilima St. #809 Honolulu, Hawai’i 96818

By Credit Card: Click on the Donate button below

(Please note that donations to this project are not eligible for tax write-offs as we are not sponsored by a non-profit.)